1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bidirectional remote control apparatus which can exchange a control signal between a remote control transmitter and controlled equipment in two directions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in the field of home electric apparatus, such as a television receivers, it has become popular to control a main apparatus (e.g.,the television), that is, the controlled equipment, by a remote control transmitter.
In such a conventional remote control apparatus, the controlled equipment increasing because all operations of the controlled equipment are controlled is remotely controlled by a control signal, such as an infrared ray signal transmitted by the remote control transmitter. Therefore, it is necessary for an operator to know which remote control keys should be operated corresponding to a current operating condition of the controlled equipment when the operator controls the controlled equipment.
The number of keys used by the remote control transmitter tends has been increasing because all operations of the controlled equipment are controlled remote control transmitter. Therefore, it is difficult to find the operating key corresponding to the current operation condition of the controlled equipment from among the many operating keys on the remote control transmitter. In addition, in the conventional remote control transmitter, in most cases, all the operating keys are operable regardless of the operating condition of the controlled equipment, resulting in low operability.